Stef Lewandowski - Latest Comments

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

martinparretti — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:29:41 -0000

Good luck Stef, hope you London treats you well.

Re: Introducing Tweetlet - twitter for pregnancy

aadhar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:38:47 -0000

I think Tweetlet is, at the end of the day, a bit of fun, but it could also help parents and others to feel a little closer to their child and change the process of becoming a parent (new tech can do this - for example. Ache

Re: 5 Counter-intuitive rules for creative people

Christine Forest — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:30:20 -0000

I have just stumbled on to your blog but I couldn't agree more with your ideas. Many people may argue but I often work the same way. And, often, good things happen unexpectedly. Sometimes, counter-intuition helps opening ways we thought shut. I like your willingness and courage to talk about out not so main stream ideas. That definitely accelerates serendipity.
I look forward to read more of your blog. Good luck with your fellowship.

Re: The best vampire film ever made?

xmashampers — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:47:47 -0000

An aftermath of the Twilight Zone? Hmmm, a sure hit such as this will forever be cherished.
xmas hampers

Re: The Culture Question: What does Birmingham need?

xmashampers — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:42:38 -0000

Birmingham is an awesome place for the techies. Just want to see a specialty space for the children to enjoy their craft in one roof. Isn't it amazing to see children play and mingle freely with their peers and soon to be friends. This will also be a venue for children shows especially during Christmas.
xmas hampers

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

joannageary — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:44:29 -0000

Best of luck Stef! It all sounds very exciting.
Looking forward to having one more of the Brummie contingent in the Big Smoke. :)

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

jamiebullock — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:31:10 -0000

Good luck Stef. It takes a lot of courage to up sticks and move like this.

I look forward to finding more about this "new venture focussed squarely on the creative industries" that will be "utterly cutting edge". Very intriguing!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

melkins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:39:50 -0000

Congrats and good luck with the move! :)

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

melkins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:38:42 -0000

Congrats!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

simon gray — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:16:43 -0000

have fun the four of you !

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

Ed Hart — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:57:14 -0000

Good luck Stef, opportunities like Clore don't come often, and I'm sure you'll make the most of it! Bit like having booster rockets attached to your career, and its time to light the fuse!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

brendadada — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:33:23 -0000

Crumbs, congratulations! I'm sure Birmingham will miss you. Will be following the next stage of you career with interest. Exciting.

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

chrisbarber — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:32:27 -0000

Congratulations and good luck! We wish you, Emily and the kids all the best!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

Michael Grimes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:16:07 -0000

Best of luck Stef :-) I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet you, to work with you and to learn from you. London has even more coffee shops than Birmingham, so if you ever need a hand comparing them...

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

aeioux — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:53:30 -0000

Yeah, you spotted it - we've been off the radar for a while - glad to finally be able to talk about it!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

aeioux — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:52:24 -0000

Thanks Karen - it's been great fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with your photography, yet from a little bit further away... :-)

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

chrisunitt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:35:18 -0000

Good luck! I thought you'd been keeping quiet - we'll be watching the next big adventure with interest. We're always here if you need us.

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

Karen Strunks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:24:25 -0000

All the very best Stef. I wish you every success in your exciting new ventures.

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

aeioux — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:19:03 -0000

Thanks Sam!

Re: Protected: London C-all-in-g

Sam — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:57:27 -0000

Good luck sir!

Re: The best vampire film ever made?

cyberpunkdreams — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:07:22 -0000

Well, you did rather spoil it for me, as the cinematic trailers don't give away that it's a vampire film and I get the feeling that everyone else was deliberately not mentioning the fact. But now I know...

Re: Does BCCDIY risk devaluing digital marketing?

carlmorris — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:29:03 -0000

Stef,

I like what you and the community have done, it's fantastic and a great example for others.

When you say BCCDIY has an "open source ethos", are you referring to the Github and the licence for the software you've written and adapted? (Is it GPL?)

I think it's worth having some precision about different kinds of work and value contribution.

I've been thinking about open source a lot and I don't think it helps understanding to refer to anything other than code as open source.

Volunteering your time for a one-off installation is something you decide to do because you're a decent sort of guy or girl. Or I guess because of other reasons like getting a "portfolio" that leads to paid work. Or because you enjoy it. Or because you're a masochist!

Whatever the motivation(s), I don't think "open source" can sensibly be used to describe this gesture. It's maybe a metaphor at best.

I'll talk about GPL because that's the licence I'm most familiar with. And it's the licence WordPress uses. The GPL licence applies to code intended to be distributed, through sale or other copying. So you can still use open source software for a one-off installation, tweak it and not be required to release it under GPL. (Although you can release it, but you would have to use GPL.)

You can get paid for this work or, as your team did here, do it for free. Obviously you can also get paid for setting up something proprietary. So open source or not is kind of nothing to do with the volunteering aspect.

In a sense you've done two good deeds if you're releasing the code open source as well (for other councils and volunteers etc.). It's worth being clear about that, rather than lumping it all under open source! I don't know if I'm stating the obvious here or not.

You are even entitled to set up a hosted service like wordpress.com called Council Website In A Box - or whatever - and now charge councils to get accounts if it's one-off. But if you travel from council to council installing it on different servers, I think that counts as distribution and you're required by GPL to release it open source.

Re: A letter to my MP about Ian Tomlinson

dog fence — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:46:35 -0000

the work done and shown in the blog is real shame that Lynne Jones, a good independent minded MP, is standing down.

Re: Mobile Spam, Scams and Halifax First Assist

philipbartlett — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:25:41 -0000

First Assist are not scammers, they are an Insurance administrator who work with banks and other large orgnisations as its chepaer to get a cut from the money first assist makes then it is to set up your own call centre etc. IF you have any insurance for accidents and injuries etc with HBOS, Barclays, the AA, RAC its with First Assist. The TPS cant do anything because all the people they ring have consented to reicve calls from the halifax and companys working on thier behalf. They employ mostly Students and people between proper jobs. They are the 5th biggest supllier of sepcialty insurance in the uk and the 2nd biggest supplier of legal protection insurance in the uk. The funny thing is that you can get the cover that poeple are ringing about cheaper by going on the halifax website and clicking a link on to the first assist website then over the phone. They arent bad people they just work for bad people. the are just trying to make a living like anyone else, and if you treat them like s**t then they are going to follow suit. treat others as you would like to be treated etc.

Re: Does BCCDIY risk devaluing digital marketing?

oneblackbear — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:02:17 -0000

I agree with your point totally. I love the fact that Clarity use Wordpress themselves.

I think BCCDIY proves that action is better than the typical British way of moaning and not doing something about it.

BCCDIY has quite obviously proved that it is not "devaluing the commercial aspects of digital marketing" by the buzz the project has created. This would not be the case without voulenteers, a good cause, and a real objective.

If anything BCCDIY has highlighted a problem, and proven that there is a community out there of passionate individuals ready to solve it.

(that was my extra long tweet). phew.